Structure of General Government Debt

Relevance

The
Maastricht definition of debt is total gross debt at nominal value outstanding
at the end of the year and consolidated between and within the sectors of
general government. In order to analyse
the debt structure, information is analysed by sector of debt holder, by
instrument, by initial and remaining maturity, and by currency of issuance. In addition, it includes information on the
apparent cost of debt, market value of debt, and the government guarantees by
holders.

Data
is compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010)
adopted in Regulation
(EU) No. 549/2013. The Maastricht definition of debt is in
line with Council
Regulation (EC) No. 479/2009 on the application of the Protocol on the
excessive deficit procedure annexed to the Treaty establishing the EuropeanCommunity.

Methodological
description

Administrative
sources are used in order to compile the structure of government debt. These are the Departmental Accounting System
(DAS) from the Treasury Department, the Financial Data Reporting System (FDRS)
from the Ministry of Finance, the Debt Management Unit within the Treasury
Department and the Central Bank of Malta (CBM).
European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) re-routed debt data
supplied by Eurostat is also used.

Data is then compiled according
to the principles set out in the ESA 2010 and the Manual on Government Deficit
and Debt. EDP debt is recorded at
nominal value while in the financial accounts the debt instruments are recorded
at market value.

Accuracy
and reliability of data

Structure
of government debt is perfectly consistent with the ESA 2010 Transmission
Programme Table 27. Data is therefore
consistent with both 'Quarterly general government debt' and the EDP
notification tables.

Malta
Stock Exchange (MSE) information on holders of domestic debt is also used in
order to verify counterpart data.

Timeliness
and punctuality of data

A
news release on the structure of general government debt is published annually
as scheduled in the Advance Release Calendar.
Data for a particular reference year n is published in year n+1.

Structure
of general government debt data is collected annually by Eurostat on a
voluntary basis via an ad-hoc survey. There
is no legal deadline, however countries are asked to send data before a specified
time.

Accessibility
and clarity of data

‘Structure
of General Government Debt’ news releases are published on the NSO’s website.

Data
on the structure of general government debt is also available on the NSO’s
statistical database (StatDB).

Coherence
and comparability/consistency of data

Structure
of general government debt data is comparable across all European Union member
states as harmonised European rules (ESA 2010, and ESA 2010 Manual on
government deficit and debt).

Consistency
with quarterly government debt and Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) data is
assured.

Data is fully
comparable over time from 1995 onwards. Prior to year 2008 the unit of measure was the
Maltese Lira (Lm) and the conversion rate to euro used was the fixed rate of
0.4293.​